How do I prepare skirting boards etc for painting?

[lolalotta]

Hello! I am DIY novice and my partner and I are hopefully moving into a property where all the woodwork is looking really shabby, the white paint is chipping off the skirting boards/ door surrounds/ hatch to reveal a dark looking (varnished?) wood underneath, so I don't think it was prepared properly for painting in the first place IYKWIM? I was hoping somebody might be able to tell me how to prepare it so we can paint it again for a more hardwearing finish. Do I need to strip it all right back to the bare wood and then start again? If so how would be best to do this? Would I use sandpaper/ paint stripper/ or a heat gun (I have one of these!) And finally, what do I paint it with, I'm not sure I like gloss...could I use a satin finish paint or is it not hardwearing enough? Do I need an undercoat or primer? Sorry for so many questions! I would really appreciate any thoughts, thank you!!!

To prepare our skirting boards, we sanded them thoroughly, then painted on a coat of primer, followed by 2 coats of dulux diamond matt satinwood. It's finitely hard wearing enough for us (and DS2 is 3/not exactly careful about bashing things into the skirting boards). We found it went on nicer with one of those wee gloss rollers (only using a brush for he fiddly bits).

You can also get hard wearing paint in eggshell finish if you prefer that.

First house we sanded and painted and it didn't look very good, especially as there is a sort of decorative edge to the board. This time around we removed the skirting boards, gave them to someone who dipped them to strip them of all paint/varnish and started from there. It was so much easier, I think we worked out that the hours put in by us to get the same result versus paying him to do it worked out at us saving 60p per hours work (not counting materials or the time spent removing paint we got on the wall and floor, second time we painted the edges before putting them back). Look into it, honestly, especially if there are different layers needing removed.

As for the next stage, I guess it depends on where in the house and your needs, we have one room where we have just oiled the wood.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!!! It looks like I am going to be busy! I love the idea of having them stripped for us but am
Not sure how easy it will be to remove the skirting as there is fitted carpet...

If the house is fairly modern, and the joinery very poor, and you will be redecorating comprehensively, it can be cheaper and less work to pull off the old and fit new. I am doing the skirtings architraves and window boards in my house as or when a room gets a major workover.

Cutting the corner joints needs some skill.

We're about to replace our first skirting boards, and the first attempt at corner joints didn't go very well - any tips? We got cheap plastic mitre box but it's not produced the best corners in the world.

We're keeping architraves/door frames, and have been stripping the paint off them with a hot air gun before sanding down.

Internal corners need a scribed joint

Lots of practice?

A pro would use a tilt-and-slide Table Saw.

No use asking me, I'm not much good at wiodwork. I get a joiner in, he's very much better and faster than me.